In the past, measuring devices had a fixed wiring of their respective components. In order to perform different measurement tasks, it was necessary to include a separate measurement path for each of these tasks within the measuring device. Each path is comprised of a number of functional units, which each are only part of one measurement path. This leads to a great number of functional units and therefore to a great hardware effort.
Moreover, the German patent application DE 101 24 371 A1 (also published as US 2004/0207637 A1) shows a measuring device comprising functional units, which can be interchangeably connected. The connection of these functional units is controlled trough a screen showing function blocks. The measuring device shown there is disadvantageous, since it is not clear to a user, which function blocks of the display can be connected to each other. A great deal of user knowledge is therefore necessary in order to operate the measuring device.
What is needed, therefore, is a measuring device and a method for operating a measuring device that facilitate a flexible and simple operation of the measuring device, without requiring a great deal of user knowledge.